On Sunday, Aug. 21, at 11 a.m., the Second African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles will celebrate its 114th anniversary with a service in their sanctuary on S. Hoover Avenue in Los Angeles.
According to the announcement made by Pastor Godfrey R. Patterson, the AME Church's retired presiding elder, the Rev. Norman D. Copeland, will deliver the sermon at the guest speaker service.
Celebrating 114th Anniversary in Service with Copeland
As the 114th anniversary of the Second AME Church approaches, the retired presiding elder Copeland will be the guest preacher of the said event.
Patterson encourages everyone to attend as he believes they will be blessed by the message that Copeland will bring as he speaks on the church's anniversary.
According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, Copeland has remained active in the community despite his retirement from active ministry in Second AME Church and the United Methodist Church.
It also stated that he is currently the board chair of the Joshua Generation Community Development Corporation, the executive director of the Joshua Generation Group LLC, and the board chair for Clergy Laity for Economic Justice, among others.
About Second AME Church of Los Angeles
The Second AME Church of Los Angeles was established in 1908, and despite the neighborhood's increasingly varied population, the church continues to prosper.
Since its inception, the church has been an inspiration to those who are a part of it as well as to the larger community in which it is located, acting as an anchor of stability, a repository of hope, and a beacon of light.
According to the church's website, the AME Church is committed to honoring the toil and suffering of those who came before them by maintaining their faith in God, accepting their humanity with dignity, and adhering to "The Golden Rule," which states that people should treat others in the same manner in which they would like to be treated themselves.
Church's Community
It also stated that they are people who demonstrate their love for God, for one another, and for all of humanity through the spirit of their worship, the warmth of their fellowship, and the joyous service they provide to the larger community.
"The Christian gospel is a two-way road: on the one hand, it seeks to change the souls of men, thereby uniting them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so that the soul will have a chance to change," from late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s book Strides Towards Freedom was the Second AME's inspiration to create an atmosphere that is conducive to spiritual growth, evangelistic involvement, and community, according to the website.
In spite of the fact that the COVID-19 outbreak caused the church's worship services and weekly outreach programs to be disrupted, the church continued to offer emergency shelter services to members of the homeless community for an entire year.
The weekly Sunday worship services got back on track in the spring of this year.
About Pastor G.R. Patterson
A man of strong convictions and unwavering will, Pastor Godfrey R. Patterson is an evangelist, social justice crusader, organizer, and writer who has traveled extensively around the United States.
As the website stated, when it comes to issues like systemic racism, other-imposed teachings of self-hatred, economic inequality of opportunity, and other societal problems, Patterson is steadfast that the Church of Jesus Christ must do more than just minister to people's souls.
